Smiths W10.

[rfrazier]

Years ago I bought a bunch of Smiths parts. I think it turned out to be the dregs of someoneelse's parts collections, lots of rusted parts, beat up dials without feet, and the like. Only one unbroken centre seconds pinion. It was an ebay special.

In any case, I had two watch projects for this week. The first was to get fj1 running again.[1]

The second project is to get a Smiths W10 up and running. Getting a working movement was the first part. It is a funny movement with regard to order of assembly. However, it is done. Here's a picture of the movement. If you look carefully, you can see it is stopped with the hacking mechanism. I was testing that the hacking thing worked properly.



Here's the timing. Just one position, but a pleasant surprise.



Still have to relume the hands, put feet on the dial, etc.

Best wishes,
Bob


1. fj1 is on the Friday thread. I had to clean it, put in a new mainspring, and put in a replacement spring for the lower shock absorber. The latter required pushing out the lower balance assembly, putting in the spring, then replacing the jewel assembly. This required adjusting it for play when done.

[Foggy]

Good work, Bob. Look forward to seeing the finished watch.

By coincidence I was looking through some of my parts this week, and found a Smiths W10 caseback. I have no recollection of when or from where I got that.

Cheers

Foggy

[rfrazier]

Does anyone know what size crystals these take? My guess is Standard Chrome Ringed Glass ATC at 31.6mm, but I would appreciate being corrected, if mistaken.

Best wishes,
Bob

[andyd30]

Hi Bob,

I would get in touch with John Senior as he will know which crystal and will likely be able to supply the NOS part.

http://www.obsoletewatchandclockparts.com

[rfrazier]

Hi Bob,

I would get in touch with John Senior as he will know which crystal and will likely be able to supply the NOS part.

http://www.obsoletewatchandclockparts.com

Thanks, that a very good idea! I've been in email contact with him recently, and should have thought of that. Thanks again.

Not sure about getting a NOS dial, however. I tend to think of the crystal, mainspring, gaskets and lubricants as consumables. I look at my mission as getting the watch in the best condition I can to use it as a watch now. As sympathetically as possibile with its origin, but not at the cost of its being significantly less useable. A 40+ year old plastic watch crystal seems bad news to me. I've already put in new lubricants, a new mainspring, and a new gasket for the caseback, all of which are probably higher quality than was used when the watch was new.

Sometimes it is a tough call. The original hands I have lost their lume, so I'll have to deal with them, probably with new lume. The lume on the dial doesn't work, but I'm not sure about reluming it, as there is a much greater chance of further damage to the dial. I might experiment with one of the dials in really bad condition to see how easy it would be to relume it.

The crown is a tough call also, unless the gasket in it is replaceable. I'm inclined to go for a new crown which is similar in shape to the old, but one with
a good gasket.


Best wishes,
Bob

[andyd30]

Thanks, that a very good idea! I've been in email contact with him recently, and should have thought of that. Thanks again.

Not sure about getting a NOS dial, however. I tend to think of the crystal, mainspring, gaskets and lubricants as consumables. I look at my mission as getting the watch in the best condition I can to use it as a watch now. As sympathetically as possibile with its origin, but not at the cost of its being significantly less useable. A 40+ year old plastic watch crystal seems bad news to me. I've already put in new lubricants, a new mainspring, and a new gasket for the caseback, all of which are probably higher quality than was used when the watch was new.

Sometimes it is a tough call. The original hands I have lost their lume, so I'll have to deal with them, probably with new lume. The lume on the dial doesn't work, but I'm not sure about reluming it, as there is a much greater chance of further damage to the dial. I might experiment with one of the dials in really bad condition to see how easy it would be to relume it.

The crown is a tough call also, unless the gasket in it is replaceable. I'm inclined to go for a new crown which is similar in shape to the old, but one with
a good gasket.


Best wishes,
Bob

Hi Bob, in not so recent past, John serviced and assembled a considerable number of W10s for a guy on MWR forum. The parts had been in storage and if my W10 is anything to go by, the resulting watches were excellent.

I wouldn’t relume the dial as the aged plots have hopefully developed into a very attractive butterscotch colour? Hands and crown I suspect John will have.

Good luck with your restoration build, The end result is worth it - this W10 is one of my favourite watches :)

[Foggy]

Ian Wilkinson over at MWR is also a potential good source for parts.

Foggy

[size11s]

Hi Bob, I suspect that you know this but just in case, the 129 stamped on the movement indicates December(12) 1969(9) so if you were looking for an issued caseback it should be a '70 or perhaps a '69.

[rfrazier]

Hi Bob, I suspect that you know this but just in case, the 129 stamped on the movement indicates December(12) 1969(9) so if you were looking for an issued caseback it should be a '70 or perhaps a '69.

Thanks. I had no idea. Here's the case I was going to use, from 1969.



However, if better, I have about a dozen 1970 cases to choose from. Lots of cases, lots of parts, but very short on decent dials, hands, crowns, set springs, centre seconds pinions.

I think that I have a different view about old watches, including military ones, than some on the forum. I think that they should be refurbished more than restored. This means that they have to work as intended. This usually means new lubricants, new mainspring, new case gasket, new crystal, and new crown or crown gasket (new crown is more straight forward). Also, the lume should work. This all should be done reasonably sympathetically. However, utility outweighs authenticity. It would be different if I was working for a museum.

Best wishes,
Bob

[size11s]

Hi Bob, You chosen case looks in nice condition, I suppose either '69 or '70 would be 'right' historically.

I generally agree, conserve what is there rather than restore what used to be there. Personally, I find a strong glowing lume on a vintage watch a bit odd but then again it is rare that I need to read my watch dial in the dark, just as well really as I nearly always wear a vintage watch. I totally see your point about intended utility though.

Sounds like you have a great collection of SmithS bits. I have a '68 SmithS W10 that I enjoy wearing occasionally.

To second what others have said, great that you are in contact with John, he is a 'go to' chap for SmithS things among many others, Ian Wilkinson good to deal with too.
Cheers
Mark

[rfrazier]

It turns out that I won't be able to relume the dial. The main problem is getting the old lume off. I think that I would have to scrap it off, and I'm not so keen on generating any dust with that material.

A better alternative for me would be to print a new dial. I took some high resolution scans of a dial in reasonable condition. It looks like it would be a lot of work to tidy it up enough to be used. Anyone know the font used on these dials?

Best wishes,
Bob

[Montello]

Hi Bob, in not so recent past, John serviced and assembled a considerable number of W10s for a guy on MWR forum. The parts had been in storage and if my W10 is anything to go by, the resulting watches were excellent.

I wouldn’t relume the dial as the aged plots have hopefully developed into a very attractive butterscotch colour? Hands and crown I suspect John will have.

Good luck with your restoration build, The end result is worth it - this W10 is one of my favourite watches :)

I got one from that haul, it’s my default when I want something understated but interesting.

SmithsW10 - 1967
[url=https://postimg.cc/image/iudd8lza3/]
[/url<https://s17.postimg.org/hfbsjvy73/smiths_w10.jpg%5b/img%5d%5b/url>]

[size11s]

Ni idea of the name of the SMITHS font and can't think where to find out without trawling through all the fonts on the computer.